Outside in the hallway.
"I'm sorry, Qiye, I'm really sorry!" Li Yifei stood there with his head lowered, apologizing over and over. "I was just too scared back then. I—I didn't think at all, I just ran…
I left you and Jiang Qian behind, and because of me, she…
I don't expect you to forgive me, but we're classmates, after all. I still wanted to apologize to you.
I'm sorry!"
Li Yifei didn't dare look into Lin Qiye's eyes, but every word he said rang with sincerity.
Only after he finished did Lin Qiye speak, slowly. "Running for your life when you're in danger — that's human nature. There's nothing wrong with that." He patted Li Yifei on the shoulder. "Besides, if it had been me, I'd have run even faster than you."
Li Yifei: …
Scratching his head, Li Yifei suddenly seemed to remember something. "Oh, right — did you sign that nondisclosure agreement too?"
Lin Qiye froze for a moment, then nodded after a brief hesitation.
So Zhao Kongcheng hadn't lied to him — they really weren't going to do anything to the witnesses. Li Yifei escaping from the monster that night, being found by them, then signing a confidentiality agreement — it all made perfect sense.
If his guess was right, Liu Yuan had signed the same agreement.
Even though he hadn't signed one yet, that was only a matter of time. Telling Li Yifei he hadn't signed would just be awkward to explain.
"Honestly, even if they hadn't made me sign, I wouldn't breathe a word." Li Yifei sighed. "That scene… I don't ever want to remember it again in my life.
And besides, after signing, if you break the terms, you'll rot in prison. I'm not about to bury my whole future with my own hands."
He rested his arms on the corridor railing and looked down at the bustling campus below, a trace of longing flickering in his eyes.
"To tell you the truth, I actually wish I could join them."
"You want to join them?" Lin Qiye asked in surprise.
"Yeah. I brought it up when I signed the agreement. I told them I was willing to give up school and sign on. Too bad… they didn't want me."
"Why do you want in so badly? Your grades might not be great, but aren't you about to get a special admission offer from the sports academy?"
"Being an athlete is so boring. No — being an ordinary person is what's boring." Li Yifei's eyes grew brighter. "Joining some powerful, secret organization, fighting hidden enemies lurking in human society, racking up countless achievements in silence… and when the truth finally comes to light one day, the whole world will remember my name!"
His fists slowly clenched as he went on, voice brimming with excitement. "That's the dream of so many men. That — that's a life that actually means something!"
"You're romanticizing it way too much." Lin Qiye ruthlessly broke his fantasy. "For all you know, you'd die on your very first mission, torn into eight pieces by some monster, buried nameless in some remote mountain. Your parents might never even learn how you died — you'd just slip out of this world alone and unnoticed."
Li Yifei: "…"
"Qiye, don't you think your imagination's a little too gory?"
"That's not imagination." Lin Qiye shook his head. "What you just described — that's the fantasy."
Li Yifei let out a helpless sigh. "Anyway, they don't want me, so there's no point overthinking it. I'll just take this secret to my grave and call it a day."
"Mm-hmm." Lin Qiye glanced at the time. "We should head back. Class is about to start."
The two of them walked back to the classroom. Compared to before, Lin Qiye could clearly feel that Li Yifei seemed much more at ease. It looked like the guilt he'd been carrying over Lin Qiye and Jiang Qian really had been a crushing weight on him.
Both ran away, yet Li Yifei and Liu Yuan had taken completely different paths.
As for Liu Yuan, Lin Qiye had no desire to go out of his way to cause trouble for him, though if a chance to teach him a lesson ever came along, he wouldn't mind taking it.
After a full day of classes, Lin Qiye slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed home.
The deaths of Wang Shao and Jiang Qian two days earlier had caused quite some trouble for the school, and under pressure, the administration had no choice but to cancel evening self‑study and send everyone home early.
What surprised Lin Qiye was just how much authority the Night Watchers seemed to have. Normally, after two students died in quick succession, people like him and Li Yifei — who had been with the victims — would definitely be questioned by the police.
Yet two days had passed since the incident, and no one had come looking for them.
From the look of it, the Night Watchers had taken full control of the case, their authority great enough to keep the local police completely silent.
As he walked, the sky slowly darkened, and a fine, drizzling rain began to fall.
It was only a little after six, yet the light had already drained from the sky.
Lin Qiye frowned. He hadn't brought an umbrella, so he could only lengthen his stride and hurry home.
The rain kept coming down harder and harder, and by the time Lin Qiye hurried home he was completely soaked. But the moment he opened the door, a rich wave of cooking aromas washed over him, dousing every trace of gloom in his chest.
"Good grief, Xiao Qi, just look at you — how did you end up this drenched?" His aunt, busy in the kitchen, rushed over as soon as she saw the state he was in.
"It really started pouring out there, and I didn't bring an umbrella today," Lin Qiye said with a smile.
"If you didn't bring an umbrella, you should've found somewhere to wait it out — or called Auntie to come get you. What if you catch a cold, coming back like this?" she scolded, feigning anger.
Lin Qiye just scratched his head with a sheepish grin and said nothing.
"Hurry and towel off. Oh, right — your teacher came by just now. I let him wait in your room," his aunt added, as if suddenly remembering.
"Teacher?" Lin Qiye froze.
"Yeah, your PE teacher. Said he had something to discuss with you. Go on and see him, don't keep your teacher waiting."
Holding a towel, Lin Qiye absentmindedly rubbed at his hair.
What the hell? The PE teacher, looking for him? He'd only just transferred in a few days ago and hadn't even taken a single PE class yet — what could he possibly want?
Unless…
A thought flashed through his mind. He tossed the towel aside, hurried to his room, and pushed the door open.
A familiar middle‑aged man was lounging in the chair, teacup in hand, smiling at him.
Lin Qiye frowned. "You? How did you find my place?"
Zhao Kongcheng smiled, picked up the emblem on the table, and gave it a little shake. "Ever since you ditched me that night, I decided to be more careful. I slipped this into your pocket last night. It can track your location."
Lin Qiye locked the door, walked straight over to the bed, and sat down. "I told you, I'm not joining you."
"I know. That's not why I'm here this time."
"Then you're here to get me to sign a nondisclosure agreement?"
"No." Zhao Kongcheng shook his head. "I reported to the others that you'd gone missing. Since I've decided to let you walk away, I can't have you signing anything. If they find out you're still around, they'll just send someone else to knock on your door — and they won't be as easy to brush off as me."
Lin Qiye was taken aback. "Then you're here to…"
Zhao Kongcheng pulled a roll of kraft paper from his pocket, set it on the desk, and slowly unrolled it.
"The Night Watchers are treated a lot better than you think. I've been working all these years and I've saved up quite a bit." He rambled on as he unfurled the roll.
The moment the paper opened, Lin Qiye's gaze sharpened.
Inside was a thick stack of cash.